Hey so considering tails are like - used for 4 legged animals - how would a biped with a tail walk? Like a humanoid with a tail. Would it move with him? Would it just kind of flop around? Would it be raised like a cat or dropped like a rat?
First of all, there’s no way to know what humans would really be like with tails, as probably the only reason we walk upright (and developed as a species the way we did) is because we lost our tail; which was a side effect of changes to our pelvic bone.
If you want a scientific answer, if humans evolved with big’ol tails then we’d have generally the same elongated pelvis as other tailed animals to support one, and if we did walk on two legs then we’d probably walk similar to dinosaurs/birds instead of humans (so we’d probably walk on all fours instead because that’s dumb).
It’s impossible to give the human a structural precedent for having a tail AND preserve the iconic shape of the human’s best evolutionary feature– the gluteus maximus – which was probably the whole point to begin with.
If we retroactively fitted a tail onto a human pelvic bone, however, the tail would be extremely unimpressive, thin for sure and probably very limp if it’s long. You’d be able to walk like a human but your tail would have limited dexterity only.
But we’re artists, not scientists, and therefore the answer to your question is entirely up to your imagination!
I decided to draw a human with an animal pelvis bone for an example;
I bet you could make some really interesting humanoids with different species of pelvis bones and tail sizes! My only advice is that, however you decide to make the tail, think about whether your character is balanced and take a look at references for the species you’re going for /w/
We all know that, in general, knowledge of anatomy will let you make functional, good-looking art, but I don’t want you to get so mechanical over something that could literally be anything that you could no longer be creative. Have fun with this and try not to think so hard about it, just know there’s so many possibilities are out there and creative experimentation is just as important as anatomical knowledge about animal butts (/3/)
(With love from Mod Koikro55)
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